Last weekend was the Annual General Meeting of the Norwegian Quilt Association (Norsk Quilteforbund). It is a few years since the last time I had the opportunity to attend, so I was happy to learn that this years meeting was to be held in Bergen, which is not so very far, and also the communications to our island are very convenient.

In addition to the AGM itself, there were a lot of classes, talks, forums for discussion, quilt competitions and exhibitions, and of course the ever tempting shops:

Since I had not signed up for any classes, I had plenty of time to let the tempations get to me, – and a few fabrics made their way into my suitcase.

I was also able to spend time to study the quilts at the exhibitions.

Saturday was a bit crowded, but on Sunday there was more space and better opportunities for photographing…..

…. although it was not as empty as it may seem from the two photos above.

The prize winners of the competition themed “Ocean” are presented on NQF’s webpages here. I will not show the same quilts in this post, except a detail from the winning quilt in the traditional class:

I really liked the quilting on Marit Lauve’s storm-at-sea blocks.

Magnhild Tautra had made this interesting piece for the competition.

The log cabin blocks were really small, and I loved the small fish and the fish net.

Kari Østengen had made this one called “Rain and Bad Weather”.

You can almost get soaked looking at this.

Another interesting piece was this one by Greta Husebø called “Arctic Ocean”. I spent a long time here studying the various ways she created texture on the quilt.

She has also made the one below:

Lots of interesting details in this one as well:

I guess that since we were in Bergen, a reminder of the local Oleana design would be in order:

I was delighted to find it turned into a quilt, made by Margun Vatshelle:

The manhole covers in the streets of Bergen are called “Bekkalokk”, and that is also the title of the quilt.

I loved it.

I was also happy to see the quilt below at the exhibition:

It is one of a series quilts by Kirsti Hovland where she explores how written signs have evolved from the earliest petroglyphs to the modern day computers. The series is an amazing body of work ,and very well executed.

The quilt below hung in a corner somewhat by itself. If I had been in a hurry, I would probably have overlooked it, as it did not “shout” to me with “loud” colours like some of its neighbours did.

And if I had not stopped, I would have missed seeing the exquisite detailed work that Karin Kristiansen put into this wall hanging.

I cannot imagine how many hours this would have taken.

Grete Lund had a couple of entries in the exhibition, and I fell for this one.

It has a pleasing repetitive pattern, and interesting details for when you go nearer.

I also liked Brit Standnes’ quilt below:

The title is “Ocean in the North”

I liked the tonal fabrics she used at the top…

…. and there were lots of details to explore.

The last two quilts I will be showing you here, were made by Bente Klingsheim.

This one is called “Angel”

“Polar Night” was too big to get a straight shot of because of the narrow aisle.

I’ll compensate by showing a few details instead. The colours are a bit off as my camera did not handle the light conditions in this dark corner very well, and the flash made the quilt look too flat.

I loved the mixture of different fabric qualities, – some matte and some very shiny ones.

The above is just a few examples of all the beautiful quilts that were on show. I really enjoyed walking through several times.

When travelling to an event like this, it is fun to be going in a group, or at least with a friend.

However, I am often surprised at how much fun I have when travelling alone. At almost every corner I tend to meet up with someone I know, or who knows me, and we get talking, often remembering the last time we met.

But the most exciting part is to get to know new people, which is bound to happen during the dinner, if not before. Since I am on my own, and each table seats ten, there is a big chance I will be seated with one or more persons I do not know beforehand. And then we get talking, and discovers we have mutual friends or relations, or have common aquaintances in faraway parts of the world, – that’s when the theory of the six degrees of separation is confirmed once more. And of course we all have one big common interest, which is discussed at length, – and usually I, or someone else, will have some new insight before the evening is out.

So it is not only new fabric that come with me when I pack my suitcase to go home….

Last week I got a phone call from the local school asking if I would like to visit the 10 and 11 year olds, showing some of my quilts. They had been working on geometrics, and each pupil had been given a paper with a square divided into 9 equal parts to decorate as they liked. We quilters would know this as a nine patch block, – and although such terms were unknown to the children, the term “patchwork” did come to mind when they had glued all their blocks together onto a piece of cardboard. So when searching on the internet for “patchwork”, my website came up, – and after looking around there, they decided they wanted to learn a bit more about patchwork and quilting, and they especially wanted to see the Kameleon Quilts. Lucky I live so close 🙂

So off I went with a suitcase packed full of some of the quilts that still reside in our home. In the hall just outside the classroom, the result of their geometry project hung on the wall.

A very colourful nine patch sampler.

I told them about nine patch blocks and how they were used in quilts, – very often as the first pattern a small girl would learn to make in former times.

Previously, they had also been doing some rangoli patterns:

We agreed that most of these are four patch blocks.

We also had a look at another traditional block; the log cabin block, and then I went on to show how I had used many of these blocks in my quilts, even the Kameleon Quilts.

On the school website there are some photos from this “show and tell”, which also included other quilts than block quilts. The children were very interested and asked lots of questions, and we were having a great time.

After I got home, I studied the photos I took of their projects, especially the nine patch one. There were some unusual and interesting designs in there, so I have taken the liberty of redrawing a few of the blocks in QuiltPro and playing around a bit to see how they would look if worked into a quilt.

This block is not an unusual pattern in itself, but I have not seen it done in a nine patch grid before, – nor have I found a similar nine patch block in the books and block libraries I have looked through. It may exist somewhere, though.

In a quilt with 3 x 3 blocks it would look like this:

Or like this, if every other block is turned 90 degrees:

Now here is another interesting block:

I have tried to use colours that are similar to the original drawing.

Here it is in a 4 x 4 block quilt:

A very pleasing design, I think.

When every other block is mirrored sideways, it looks like this:

Both of the blocks above have some kind of symmetry to them.

The one below, however, has a refreshing lack of symmetry, both in the design and especially in the colouring; – almost every patch has a new colour:

When set into a repeating pattern, like the 4 x 4 block setting below, it makes a beautiful and interesting quilt:

With every other block turned 90 degrees, it will look like this:

If we “zoom out” a bit, we might also get a better overall view of the design:

I would not mind owning a quilt like that 🙂

In conclusion, this turned out to be a most interesting and inspiring visit, – not least for me.

When a call of entry for old embroideries went out from Galleri Frøya earlier this year, the good ladies of Kalvåg and Bremanger went to their cupboards and chest of drawers and dug, – very deep, it seems.

The things they dug out, – some of them very old, were then carefully cleaned, if possible, – then starched and ironed before being hung or laid out in the gallery in the centre of Kalvåg.

The theme of the exhibition is: “Embroideries for everyday use”.

Judging from the items on display, – and also from experience, – the kitchen would be the room in the house that was used the most, – every day.

“Coffee is served”, it says on this tablecloth, which would typically be part of a set which would also have one or two pieces for the counter tops, and probably a so called decorative towel.

These embroidered “towels” were purely decorative and hung on the wall in the kitchen, – sometimes in front of the pegs where the “real” towels were, to keep them out of sight.

There was a broad selection of these decorative towels. They were also used in bedrooms, to cover the towels by the wash stand.

Many were in good shape, – but not accompanied by their counterpart tablecloths or runners, indicating that maybe the latter got more heavy use and were worn out long before these purely decorative items.

This flower embroidery brought back memories, – we had table cloths like this when I grew up, and they were my favourites.

Some of the pieces were very colourful, and telling of everyday life.

Many had sayings or blessings embroidered on them.

The fringe on the one above is done in macrame, and was taught to the maker by an older lady who called it Lover’s knot.

Some of the motifs are known across the world. You have probably already recognized Little Red Riding Hood.

Another piece that brought on nostalgia. My mother had made a set that adorned our kitchen when we grew up, – it was done in this pattern, and in the exact same colours.

There were embroideries in many styles……

…. and not surprisingly, also in Hardanger.

Even the most beautifully worked pieces had some telltale signs of use and wear.

There were a few examples of these lovely, nostalgic country scenes.

Redwork and bluework seemed to be popular, and they often came with sayings or poems on them. The text here says: Kari makes sour cream porridge, we sweeten it with sugar. (It rhymes in Norwegian)

Usually these things would be made from ready bought or shared patterns. This one however, has been designed by the maker herself, and shows a fisherman returning home after a long trip at sea, – which happens all the time around here. The text says: Welcome home.

This one is a beauty, and has been well used. Note the mended tear…..

… and not least the impressive monogram.

I could go on and on, but then this post would be too heavy to download. I’ll give in to the temptation of throwing in some more whitework, though:

It is high time to drag this blog of mine out of its hibernation, I think. It is probably well rested by now as it has been more or less asleep since Christmas time.

So, what happened?

First it was the Christmas Day storm “Dagmar”, which caused our internet connection to go down for nearly a month. Then there was the backlog to deal with after we came online again, plus I was working on two projects (not to be shown for a long while yet).

And then there is always life, – all the little things that come in the way of the things we plan to do, – but we still love it 🙂

I am working on showing you some embroideries here next, so watch out!